Forgiven After Abortion: Divine Mercy, Message for the Greatest Sinners

Through the Divine Mercy of God I have been healed. The shame, embarrassment, and guilt are gone. Of course, this does not mean I am not sorry, I will always be sorry, but, instead of being afraid and running from the fact, I know I am a sinner, and while I always strive not to sin, I am also aware that anything I do right is only because of His grace in my life.

P>BRONX, NY (Catholic Online) - A couple of years ago, I was one of the speakers at the North American Congress on Mercy in Washington, DC. Anyone who knows me, knows of my deep devotion to the Divine Mercy and the part it played in my healing from abortion. In fact, I end just about every talk I give with an excerpt of Jesus from The Diary of St Faustina, "Divine Mercy in My Soul".

"Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than asked. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy."

For me it always seemed to be written for those of us who had participated in abortion. Who could be a greater sinner than I was?

One morning after the Congress, I got a phone call from a good friend of mine. She called me hardly containing her laughter. She had seen an article from the Divine Mercy Congress posted on the website, "Boy", she exclaimed, "God certainly wants you to be humble!" There in bold letters, the article led with, "A Message for the Greatest Sinners". 

There was a time in my life when those words would have led me into despair. They would have validated all the things I felt about myself, all my fears, my shame, my condemnation, my despair. The stamp on my head I always felt was there proclaiming "guilty", the sign on my back saying, "She killed her child".

Those words may even have had the power to drive me to suicide. Since my abortion, I had certainly thought about it often enough.  But, instead of it doing all of those things, it brought me to a deep sense of gratitude because I no longer feel any of those things. I am not bogged down by shame, I did not feel insulted, I did not feel embarrassed and, I did not feel like the statement is untrue. I know I am one of the "greatest sinners" but unlike before, I am okay and at peace with it.

Why? Because, through the Divine Mercy of God I have been healed. The shame, embarrassment, and guilt are gone. Of course, this does not mean I am not sorry, I will always be sorry, but, instead of being afraid and running from the fact, I know I am a sinner, and while I always strive not to sin, I am also aware that anything I do right is only because of His grace in my life.

The things I feared to face and deal with before my healing, have become the very things that have set me free when dealt with in the light of God's love and mercy. I now stand in truth, the truth of my sin and the truth of God's mercy. I have come to learn to take me eyes off of myself knowing my healing comes from Him and what He has done, not from me and what I have done, and there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Praise God, I can join in the laughter with my good friend, not about my sin itself, but about the truth of myself knowing I am "the greatest sinner" and God is the God of Mercy!

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Theresa is the Director of Lumina/Hope & Healing After Abortion, a post abortion ministry under the arm of Good Counsel Homes, founded by Chris Bell and Rev Benedict Groeschel, CFR.  With the Sisters of Life, Theresa also co-developed the healing ministry, "Entering Canaan, a Sacramental Journey to an Inheritance of Mercy". Along with the Sisters of Life and Friars of the Renewal Theresa conducts retreats for women, and men suffering from abortion as well as siblings of those who have been aborted. She also does public speaking and training to educate on post abortion stress. She can be reached at lumina@postaboritonhelp.org , 877-586-4621 or http://www.postabortionhelp.org 

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